ARTICLES ABOUT ELECTION BY DATE - PAGE 4

ED NEILSON was quietly sworn in as City Council's newest member yesterday, nearly three months after he won a special election for the at-large seat. But will he finish the 17 months left in the term of former Councilman Bill Green , who resigned in February to be chairman of the School Reform Commission? To hear the former state representative tell it, only time will tell. There is growing interest in Northeast Philly politics about state Sen. Mike Stack III 's 5th Senatorial District.

Leslie S. Richards, a Montgomery County commissioner, has been elected to chair the board of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, the nine-county agency that funnels federal transportation funding to the Philadelphia region. Richards replaces James Simpson, who resigned last month as New Jersey transportation commissioner. Simpson's successor will be the vice chair of the DVRPC board. The other newly elected officers are Camden Mayor Dana Redd, secretary, and Ronald Henry, Gov. Corbett's representative, treasurer.

AN IMPASSIONED judge of elections from Strawberry Mansion let loose on City Commissioner Stephanie Singer yesterday, accusing her of everything from voter intimidation to creating havoc and lawlessness at a polling place during the May primary election. "My community - my division - will never heal from this," Judge of Elections Bonita Cummings said during a City Commissioners' election board hearing yesterday. Cummings, a committeewoman in the 28th Ward and judge of elections in the ward's 6th division, was one of several witnesses from election boards who testified about complaints of Election Day impropriety.

ISSUE | ELECTIONS Cross-country donations tell a tale Regarding the questions raised about donations to Eighth Congressional District Democratic nominee Kevin Strouse, the first time that two legal but ethically questionable events occur simultaneously, it can be considered a coincidence ("Happy returns," June 19). If those same events occur a second time, they are said to have entered a gray area. Upon the third occurrence, the only comparison to be made is to that of dead fish rotting in the noonday sun. Voters of Bucks County deserve - and in U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.)

ISSUE | ELECTIONS Sent packing Three cheers for Virginia Republicans, who sent a crystal-clear message with the primary upset of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor ("Stunning defeat for GOP's Cantor," June 11). Crony capitalism doesn't fly with Americans left or right, whether it's banks being bailed out or another amnesty bill for illegal immigrants. The politicians reap the rewards of amnesty in the form of political donations, and the American people suffer the consequences in the form of lower wages, strained social services, and minorities being pushed out of the labor market.

DEMOCRATIC and Republican committee people who won posts in the primary election 17 days ago will soon elect ward leaders, but a few protesters want to call a halt until their complaints are investigated. The aggrieved spoke of primary polling-place harassment and electioneering during a hearing yesterday called by City Commissioner Stephanie Singer . This Airing of Grievances - sadly, with no Seinfeldian feats of strength or Festivus pole - stirred a dozen people to march from the City Hall courtroom, where Singer sat as judge, to District Attorney Seth Williams ' office across the street.

A city election official who was previously fined by Philadelphia's Board of Ethics for using her office computer to engage in political activity is in hot water again with the same board - and has had her computer confiscated. Tracey Gordon, who has been a deputy to City Commissioner Stephanie Singer, has been placed on unpaid administrative leave. According to an e-mail sent Thursday to the three commissioners by Chief Deputy Commissioner Don Garecht, Gordon was suspended without pay for 90 days pending an investigation by the Ethics Board.

The Republican nominee for the congressional seat being relinquished by U.S. Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz said that if he is elected, he will donate his salary to charities in Northeast Philadelphia and eastern Montgomery County. Dee Adcock, 62, a Montgomery County businessman, made the announcement Wednesday. "If you send me to Washington, while I'm working to fix the system to restore the American dream for the forgotten worker, I will donate my entire after-tax paycheck to local charitable organizations in Northeast Philly and Montgomery County," he said.

In a bitter three-way race that involved some of the city's most powerful political players, State Sen. Christine Tartaglione cruised to a surprisingly easy victory in the Democratic primary Tuesday. She collected slightly more than half of the vote in the Second Senatorial District, which stretches from Kensington to Fox Chase, besting Daniel Savage, a former City Council member, and Tomas Sánchez, husband of Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez. The rough-and-tumble race featured big money, prominent endorsements, and plenty of attack ads. The district also was one of the hottest areas in the city for complaints of election shenanigans, said Ellen Mattleman Kaplan of the watchdog group Committee of Seventy.

IT'S TRADITION - like chopped liver on rye - for Clout to question the politicians on Election Day at the Famous 4th Street Deli. We ask everyone the same three questions. The answers - and the dodges - are revealing. Yesterday's questions were: * Who will the candidates be for mayor of Philadelphia next year and who is the front-runner? * Can Democratic nominee Tom Wolf defeat Gov. Corbett in the November general election? * Who would win an arm-wrestling match between electricians union chief John Dougherty and carpenters union leader Ed Coryell ?